The accomplishment finally hit Mark Corino in the locker room Saturday afternoon in Philadelphia, after the game was finished and Caldwell College grabbed a 76-74 win over the University of the Sciences. Corino had to wait until 2.6 seconds remained in overtime to get the winning margin, but when it was over the Caldwell coach finally earned his 500th career victory.

Corino is in his 25th season at Caldwell, a Division 2 program, and will tell you honestly that he never thought he would stick around this long. But Saturday night, he became the 11th coach in D-2 history to reach the milestone. He also became just the third coach in New Jersey to reach that win total, joining a group with Stockton College coach Gerry Matthews (548 and counting) and former Princeton coach Pete Carril (514).

Herb Magee, the longtime coach at Philadelphia University, has won a Division 2-record 974 games.

"To be in a position like Gerry Matthews … as well as Pete Carril, those guys are people I’ve known for years and coached with," said Corino, who coached five seasons at Bloomfield College (95-48) prior to taking over at Caldwell. "To be with them in that area, being only three with 500 in the state of New Jersey. I guess that means a lot to me."

He thanked the school for its willingness to stick with him and his program. He highlighted present and former players who helped him get here. And he kept pushing the attention away from himself.

He arrived at the school with bigger plans, seeing it as a place on the way to somewhere else. Just a year earlier Caldwell was an all-female school and Carino said it was akin to starting from scratch.

"Did I think I would be here 26 years later?" Corino said. "No. I thought like anything else I would be able to build a program and move on. But something good happened. … I’m proud to call it my home."

This season Caldwell is 11-6 and 7-3 in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference, which Corino has won seven times. He has made five appearances in the NAIA Tournament and one in the NCAA Division 2 Tournament. (The school transitioned from the NAIA to NCAA Division 2 in 2002.)

"It feels very, very good," he said of win No. 500. "Obviously it’s a culmination of a lot of time, work and effort and everything, but yes, it feels good. And the way we did it makes you feel much better."

"It really doesn’t mean a hell of lot for me personally. It means the willingness of our institution."

So Corino went on and on, thanking others and not himself. He sensed that his players had hoped to notch the milestone for him. Afterward, they posed together as a team, his players holding up five fingers to note the win.

And even after that celebration, Corino kept an even keel. There was still a bus ride back to Caldwell.

"The bus ride back is going to be like all of the other ones," he said.

SEE THAT?

Nobody is paying much attention to Providence, what with Creighton and Doug McDermott now in the conference and Georgetown tanking, but the Friars are suddenly a Big East threat. They’ve won five straight games, including vs. Xavier on Saturday, and Bryce Cotton can score with the best of them. At 15-5, coach Ed Cooley is already four wins shy of his best season with the Friars. Oh, and they’ve beaten Creighton, too.

LAST WORD

So what to make of Pittsburgh? The Panthers are 18-2 and a half-game behind Syracuse in the ACC. But they’ve just beaten up on the soft midsection of the conference, though they kept close to the Orange in their lone league loss. Lamar Patterson has been the breakout star for Pitt, averaging 17.9 points per game and leading the team in assists, while also being second in rebounds. The next week will test the Panthers’ mettle with home games against Duke and surprising Virginia. Then we’ll know just how real Pitt is this year.

WHAT THE?

What is going on with George Mason? Paul Hewitt’s program is on a severe decline. After 24 wins in his first season at the school, the former Georgia Tech coach’s squad is struggling. Mason is 7-10 this season and winless in the A-10. A loss to George Washington this weekend didn’t help the cause. Oh, and here comes a trip to Saint Louis, the A-10’s best team so far, Saturday.

MARQUEE MATCHUP

DUKE AT SYRACUSE

SATURDAY, 6:30 P.M., ESPN

CARRIER DOME, SYRACUSE, N.Y.

For all the grittier parts of conference realignment, that it ultimately produced Duke vs. Syracuse — and Coach K vs. Jim Boeheim — is an unintended benefit. ‘Cuse’s best test so far comes against a resurgent Jabari Parker and the Blue Devils, who thrashed Florida State two days ago.

MARCH LION

RHAMEL BROWN

Manhattan, F-C

8.8 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 3.7 bpg

Brown is the nation’s second-leading shot-blocker and playing for a team that is the frontrunner to make it to March out of the MAAC. Brown has been a bulwark for the Jaspers. His 3.7 blocks per game are second only to Arizona State’s Jordan Bachynski, and he has run up the number several times this season, blocking at least four shots 10 times, including Sunday, when he had four blocks in Manhattan’s 90-86 loss to Quinnipiac. He blocked nine in a loss to Fordham. He blocked eight, along with 10 points and eight rebounds, in a win over Monmouth. All this from a 6-foot-7 center.

PASSING THOUGHTS

WOLVERINES CLAWING UP THE BIG TEN STANDINGS

It wasn’t looking good for Michigan with two losses by Nov. 24. Or when Mitch McGary went down with an injury in December. But somehow the Wolverines, under coach John Beilein, have made it work. Today they stand atop the Big Ten standings, the only unbeaten in conference play, after winning at Michigan State on Saturday. Nik Stauskas has had a breakout year and his 19 points this weekend exemplified it. But it was also Derrick Walton Jr. scoring 19 points — 11 more than his average — and Caris LeVert helping overcome a meager game from Glenn Robinson III. Michigan doesn’t look as threatening as it did last season, when Trey Burke led them to the title game, but, then again, they have three consecutive wins over top-10 teams and they are the top team in a conference with Michigan State, Wisconsin and Ohio State. February looks to be hellish for them when the Wolverines face each of the other four ranked conference teams in succession. But the lesson, as always, is: never underestimate Beilein.

THRIVING AND SURVIVING

TEXAS (16-4, 5-2 BIG 12)

Remember the days when Rick Barnes’ job status seemed as tenuous as Mack Brown’s? No longer. The Longhorns have beaten three ranked teams in a row — Iowa State, Kansas State and Baylor — and are looking like the third-best team in the conference after an 0-2 start. It all looks good now, but the real test will come Saturday, when Kansas comes into Austin.

VILLANOVA (17-2, 6-1 Big East)

The beatdown by Creighton last Monday night was awe-inducing. At one point, ‘Nova was down 40 points. At home. But that could almost be excused in a way by the unbelievable hot-shooting of Creighton that night. That was followed by an overtime game, a win, at Marquette, who has had a rough go lately. So Villanova now has to re-establish itself.

LOCAL FLAVOR

The next two weeks likely will determine which of the three New Jersey MAAC schools can rise in the conference standings. Rider looks like the greatest threat to Iona, Manhattan and Canisius who currently sit atop the league standings. With its overtime win over Monmouth Sunday and a game against Saint Peter’s later this week, Rider has a chance to jump up the standings because basement-dwelling Marist and Fairfield follow. Anthony Myles and Daniel Stewart have combined for a potent scoring duo and the Broncs have won games away at each of the conference co-leaders.